Around the home

Try these ideas to help your child learn around the home:

You will need:

  • Bed, cot, bunkbeds
  • Age-appropriate books and magazines
  • Puppets and toys to tell stories
  • Children's clothing
  • Suitable storage
  • A variety of soft toys for comfort
  • Blankets to make dens
  • Board games and puzzles

What to do

  • Talk about bedroom routines and the order in which we do things such as
    • bath time
    • putting on pyjamas
    • story time
    • sleep time
  • Talk and read their favourites stories, older children may want to act them out
  • Discuss suitable clothing for the day, consider the weather, where you're going and what you're doing. For example 'Do we need to wear a
    • wooly hat?
    • jumper?
    • sun dress?
    • sun hat?
    • sunglasses?
  • Role model putting clothes and toys away
  • Play with you child, valuing what they are saying and doing

Skills your child will learn

  • Building relationships with special people
  • Exploring feelings and behaviours
  • Using language in a creative and imaginative way
  • Explore differences in size, shape and pattern
  • Curiosity and an interest in stories and books you share with them
  • Taking turns through playing games 

You will need:

  • Mirror
  • Different sized sponges, empty plastic bottles
  • Water toys (like ducks, fish, shark)
  • Flannel, toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Comb
  • Bath books
  • Bubble bath, soap – different smells

What to do

  • Make faces in the mirror - move your tongue, wiggle your nose, make a kiss
  • Tune in to different smells
  • Squish, squeeze, and twist different sized sponges
  • Talk about safety in the bathroom (for example slipping and hot water)
  • Talk about health and hygiene, why we wash our bodies and teeth
  • Sing songs (like 'This is the way we wash our hands')

Skills your child will learn

  • Health and self-care such as basic hygiene, washing themselves, brushing their teeth and how to use the toilet
  • Independence
  • Understanding body parts
  • Safety in the bathroom
  • Bath time is fun time, through the toys which are offered and songs that can be sung
  • Rich language through positive interactions and songs
  • Volume and capacity through different sized containers and sponges

You will need:

  • Chair, sofa, table, beanbags
  • Family photographs
  • Children's toys
  • Plants
  • TV and radio
  • A variety of fact and fictional reading materials
  • Clock
  • Mirror
  • Ornaments

What to do

  • Make time to snuggle up with your child
  • Talk about the photos you have on display, who they are and how they relate to you
  • Play with and alongside your child when playing with their toys, using age-appropriate language and introducing new and exciting words
  • Talk about past and present
  • Allow children to water plants and explain why they need water
  • Point to numbers on the clock
  • Touch, feel and talk about ornaments within the room
  • Sing and dance to music

Skills your child will learn

  • Turn-taking while playing games
  • Beginning to understand past and present
  • Understand technology like the TV and radio
  • Descriptive language looking at furniture and ornaments (for example "This settee is very comfortable")
  • Physical development – gross-motor (large muscle) skills when dancing

You will need:

  • Crockery
  • Cutlery and baking utensils of different sizes
  • Weighing scales
  • Calendar
  • Clock
  • A variety of tinned foods
  • A variety of fresh vegetables and fruit (include some unusual ones)
  • Food packaging from familiar shops

What to do

  • Talk with your children about the size, taste, texture, and colour of foods. Help them to recognize the differences between rough and smooth surfaces, salty, sour, or sweet tastes, and the smells of certain foods
  • Play a game where children can look for different shapes and numbers in the kitchen
  • Let children help prepare the food and set the table
  • Let them help with the washing up

Skills your child will learn

  • Language and attention skills - how to listen to instructions and ask questions
  • Physical skills - movements such as peeling, grating, pressing, stirring, and pouring all help develop hand muscles and hand eye co-ordination
  • Social skills spending time with family
  • Using tools in a realistic and purposeful way
  • Mathematic development - cooking provides opportunities for children to count, measure and calculate
  • Using tools in a realistic and purposeful way
  • Scientific skills by observing how different ingredients mix and how food can change when cooked